A predawn training exercise in California’s Mojave Desert turned tragic on June 10 when Specialist Adrian Bonsey, 29, was struck and killed by an M2 Bradley fighting vehicle during a large-scale rotation at the Army’s National Training Center at Fort Irwin. Bonsey was on foot in the training area at the time of the incident and was assigned to the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia.
Maj. Gen. John Lubas, commander of the 3rd Infantry Division, called the loss “devastating” and said the division would “wrap its arms around the family and the unit,” according to WTOC. Fort Stewart officials said Bonsey joined the Army in 2023 and had been assigned to Fort Stewart for about two months before the National Training Center rotation. The Army has opened multiple inquiries to determine how a soldier on foot ended up in the path of an armored vehicle.
What happened during the exercise
Army spokespeople said the accident happened at about 4:30 a.m. on June 10 during hours of limited visibility when the 27-ton M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, manned by a three-soldier crew and able to carry six additional troops, struck Bonsey, according to ABC News. The Bradley is armed with a 25mm chain gun, an M240C 7.62mm machine gun and TOW anti-tank missiles, and is widely used by armored brigade combat teams. A National Training Center rotation typically lasts about a month as brigades rehearse combined-arms operations under high-pressure, simulated combat conditions.
Bonsey's service record
Bonsey was a combat engineer with the 9th Engineer Battalion, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and had previously served at Fort Carson, Colorado, and deployed to Poland in 2024, military officials said. He had earned two Army Achievement Medals and was identified as a New York native who enlisted in 2023, according to reporting from WJCL. Division leaders said fellow soldiers and leaders have been given time to grieve and to access support services as they process the loss.
Investigation and wider safety questions
The Army said the U.S. Army Combat Readiness Center, the Department of the Army Criminal Investigation Division and U.S. Army Training and Transformation Command are leading inquiries into the circumstances of the collision. Training fatalities have drawn renewed scrutiny across the service; the Army recorded 31 training deaths in 2025, and past probes have cited recurring causes such as sleep deprivation, inadequate training and inexperienced leaders as contributing factors, ABC News reported. Those findings have fueled an ongoing debate inside the Army about how to balance realistic high-risk training with the safety protocols meant to prevent exactly this kind of tragedy.
What's next
Investigators have not released details on whether human error, equipment malfunction or procedural breakdowns were involved, and Army officials have not announced a timeline for the probe’s completion, according to KAKE. The division said it has notified Bonsey’s next of kin and has been offering counseling and support to the unit while the investigation continues.
The death has reverberated across the 3rd Infantry Division and, in the division’s words, serves as a stark reminder that even training at home stations and at the National Training Center carries significant risks, according to a statement cited by WTOC. The division added that it will honor Bonsey’s service and continue to support affected soldiers as investigators work to determine exactly what went wrong in the Mojave Desert that morning.
